A new study has found that men and women who ‘feel lonely’ are more likely to have worse mental health and die early than those living alone.

New Delhi: A new study has warned that lonely people are more likely to die from heart problems. The findings showed that loneliness can have detrimental impacts on both physical and mental health. According to the study, men and women who ‘feel lonely’ are more likely to have worse mental health and die early than those ‘living alone’. Loneliness was linked with a doubled mortality risk in women and nearly doubled risk in men. Earlier, a survey conducted by the health insurer Cigna found that loneliness has the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it even more deadly than obesity. Studies have also linked loneliness with weight gain, dementia, sleep problems, etc.

“Loneliness is a strong predictor of premature death, worse mental health, and lower quality of life in patients with cardiovascular disease, and a much stronger predictor than living alone, in both men and women,” said Anne Vinggaard Christensen, doctoral student, at the Copenhagen University Hospital. Loneliness was associated with poor outcomes in all patients regardless of their type of heart disease, and even after adjusting for age, level of education, other diseases, body mass index, smoking, and alcohol intake. Read: Weight gain and four other health risks associated with loneliness

For the study, the researchers assessed 13,463 patients with ischaemic heart disease, arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm), heart failure, or heart valve disease to find out whether poor social network was associated with worse health outcomes. The findings showed that both men and women who felt lonely were three times more likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression, and had a significantly lower quality of life than those who did not feel lonely.

Vinggaard Christensen said that people with poor social support may have worse health because they have unhealthier lifestyles, are less compliant with treatment, and are more affected by stressful events.

But, when “we adjusted for lifestyle behaviours and many other factors in our analysis, we still found that loneliness is bad for health,” Christensen added.

The European guidelines on cardiovascular prevention note that people who are isolated or disconnected from others are at increased risk of developing and dying prematurely from coronary artery disease. The guidelines recommend assessment of psychosocial risk factors in patients with established cardiovascular disease and those at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

The findings were presented at the annual nursing congress EuroHeartCare 2018 in Dublin.

Loneliness doubles risk of dying early from heart problemsDescription:A new study has found that men and women who ‘feel lonely’ are more likely to have worse mental health and die early than those living alone.Times Now